Town expands residential parking pass program

The Town of Fort Myers Beach has expanded its residential parking program for residents. The new program allows residents to obtain year-round parking stickers for $50, which will allow Fort Myers Beach citizens to park in any town-operated parking spaces for free by showing their parking pass on their dashboard.

The town previously had a parking program which restricted the parking to a limited number of parking spots at a cost of $25, which was instituted in 2022. That year, the town council voted to raise parking meter rates from $3 an hour to $5 an hour.

The new parking pass will not extend to private parking lots, Lee County lots or any other parking space that is not owned and operated by the Town of Fort Myers Beach.

The parking stickers must be renewed every 12 months.

To obtain the parking stickers, residents can stop onto Town Hall between 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. during business hours.

The town recently announced the program, with officials citing a May 5 meeting where the parking situation was discussed during one of former Town Manager Andy Hyatt’s last meetings.

The discussion also involved where to place new signage for expanded short-term parking spaces for Door Dash or pickups.

Mayor Dan Allers said there was interest among some residents to being able to use the residential parking passes to park at other places than just under the Matanzas Pass Bridge downtown. “People I talked to want flexibility to park in other areas,” Allers said.

There was a general agreement from town councilmembers to expand the residential parking program for residents though no vote was ever taken and no public announcement of the expansion occurred until this month.